As my friends can tell you, I bake a lot and I love decorating my baked goods – be it cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, or even the good old Sunday pancake. I have therefore been wanting to combine my love for weddings and baking onto Simply Peachy for some time now, but well – you know – things get busy, life gets in the way so I haven’t been able to organise myself to do so till now. Seeing as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I wanted to do a little something to help promote awareness and early detection so I figured it was the perfect time to come up with a little bit sweet goodness to share with you all. So today, I’m thinking pink with some pink confetti vanilla cupcake jars that would also work perfectly as your wedding favours!

Don’t be deterred by the sound of cupcake jars because this is an easy and fun twist on the regular cupcake and takes no time to whip up in the kitchen. I used my no fail go-to vanilla butter cake recipe for these cupcakes but if you’re not the most confident baker or are feeling a little lazy, you can just use a butter cake mix. It works just as well. However, if you are feeling up to the baking challenge, here’s my recipe for a vanilla butter cake and vanilla buttercream icing:

VANILLA BUTTER CAKE (makes 12 cupcakes or 24 mini-cupcakes)

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

2 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup caster sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder (if you want to use self-raising flour, just leave out the baking powder)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup pink sprinkles (only if you want the confetti look)

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a cupcake tray with paper cases. I made mini-cupcakes as my jars were teeny tiny.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and continue to beat on low speed, adding 1 egg at a time along with the vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and milk in two parts, alternating between the two. Beat for around 1 minute until the cake batter is smooth.

Add the pink sprinkles in (this is to create a pink confetti look in the cakes) and mix on low speed until combined.

Divide the cake mixture in your cupcake cases, filling them about half to two-thirds full.

For mini-cupcakes, bake them for about 10 minutes (15-20 minutes for normal sized cupcakes). Insert a toothpick in the center – if it comes out clean, they’re ready. Don’t worry too much if their shape is a little warped as we’ll be cutting the tops off for the cupcake jars. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

These cakes can be frozen for up to 2 weeks so you don’t have to worry about having to manically bake the night before your wedding!

VANILLA BUTTERCREAM ICING (I like to make this while the cakes are baking)

125g unsalted butter, softened slightly

2 1/2 cups icing sugar

Pink food colouring

Steps:

Beat butter at high speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Sift icing sugar into bowl and beat on low speed until fully combined and smooth. If your buttercream seems a bit too stiff, add a few drops of water and beat until fully combined.

Add a drop of pink food colouring into the bow and fold it in using a spatula. Be careful not to add too much icing in otherwise it’ll come out hot pink rather than a softer pink. I like to dip a toothpick into the colouring and dip that into the icing mixture and mix. If the colour is not enough, then repeat.

Store the buttercream icing in an airtight container in the fridge. Make sure you take your buttercream icing out of the fridge and allow it to soften before icing. Add a dash of water to the icing before use if the icing is too stiff.